International Ballet Festival in Havana

November 04, 2010

ABT in Havana was one of the lead-ins for Diane Sawyer tonight on ABC News. If you miss it, check back here for the recap later.

Recap:

What a tribute! What a great job by the dancers!

For the final story of the broadcast, Diane Sawyer called it "a night to remember" and "a performance 50 years in the making" and of Alicia Alonso, "a small woman who danced across history."

The piece included clips of Michele Wiles and Cory Stearns in the moving PdD from Theme and Variations (both looked fantastic!), the exquisitely beautiful dancing of Stella Abrera, Xiomara Reyes, and Julie Kent in Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas, and the incomparable Jose Manuel Carreno in Fancy Free who then held on to Alicia Alonso with Kevin McKenzie at the foot of the stage.

As soon as the full clip goes up on the ABC News site (more elaborate than the one earlier posted), Haglund will try to post it here. [And here it is- from tonight's broadcast.]

Really, when was the last time a ballet performance was a feature story on the national television news?!

The world's press is on fire covering the International Ballet Festival in Havana – except for The New York Times, that is. Ah yes, let's take a peek at what's on the NYT front page today: "Spider-man" Opening Delayed Again. Well, you can't say Arthur doesn't have his priorities.

But there is a veritable feast of coverage in today's world's media about the festival and in particular last night's performance by ABT, its first in Cuba in fifty years.

The Americans gave a technically brilliant performance, including an athletic rendition of the Corsaire pas de deux, which saw Herrera, in a delicate purple tutu, dancing with the Cuban-born José Manuel Carreño, who drew loud cheers from the audience every time he took the stage.

The paper published a picture of Hallberg, Cornejo, and Saveliev in mid-air in Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas.

The BBC wrote that "The US and Cuba are searching for common ground through culture" and reports that dancers from ABT and the Cuban National Ballet will share the stage in tonight's performance.

Two of the ballet theatre's lead dancers, Jose Manuel Carreno and Xiomara Reyes, are originally from Cuba and performed in Wednesday night's gala at Havana's Karl Marx Theatre.

Alonso was in the audience and took to the stage to receive a standing ovation at the end of the show, which included a 1947 piece choreographed especially for her.

She returned to Cuba after Fidel Castro took power and formed the Cuban National Ballet, which has sent star dancers to many leading troupes around the world.

Carreno and Reyes were among her proteges.

A second show is due to take place on Thursday night and will feature performances from dancers of the Cuban National Ballet.

The Express Tribune has a SLIDE SHOW of the performance with pictures courtesy of Reuters (we can always depend on Reuters to get the picture) including this beauty from the end of the performance.

November 03, 2010

Say what you will about Rupert, but one of his papers is gettin' it right – as in correct – this week. Gettin' it right indeed.

It's been hard keeping up with The Wall Street Journal's fantastic coverage of the International Ballet Festival in Havana. Here is yet another superb article by Pia Catton, this time focusing on Cuban native and ABT principalXiomara Reyes who grew up in a Havana neighborhood and attended Laura Alonso's school Pro Danza. Reyes brought along shoes and clothing for the students at her old school which she returned to today for a visit. Pia Catton got the story and the pictures, including some great slides of the ABT dancers frolicking at the beach.

Ms. Alonso gave Ms. Reyes a tour of Pro Danza, which has been housed in this marble and wrought-iron hodge-podge building since 1984. A men's class was in session in a room heavy with humidity and sweat. Down the open corridor, a seamstress in the costume shop was working on a dress for "Dracula." A scrawny dog wandered into the second-floor hallway just as the women's class let out and dancers milled around.

The setting—a beat-the-odds ballet studio in this rough, polluted neighborhood—made even clearer why, when Ms. Reyes was asked about her greatest lesson during her time with Ms. Alonso, she replied: "Not to be afraid."

Digital newspaper www.ahora.cu* reports today that this evening's performance by ABT in the huge 5000 seat Karl Marx Theater will be broadcast live on television for the enjoyment of the entire country (Cuba, that is). Hallelujah! That means, hopefully, that we may see YouTube footage almost instantly.

* FYI, there is also a supplement section in the current edition on The Cuban Five for those interested in the Cuban viewpoint.

November 02, 2010

The Wall Street Journal continues its excellent coverage of events at the International Ballet Festival in Havana with this article. Pia Catton reports on the news conference held today by ABT at Hotel Palco in Havana.

When asked about the political impact that the company's visit could have on the relationship between America and Cuba, Mr. McKenzie deflected the question with his response, but drew a round of applause.

"We come equipped with a cultural depth to reach across all differences to a culture of like minds," he said. "There is nothing that can judge a civilization's imprint clearer than the artwork it leaves behind. So it is not our purpose here to do anything but to speak of our cultural sameness. That dialog is what will expand to brighter, more positive horizons."

Thanks to the WSJ for its great coverage of this important cultural and diplomatic event.

Thanks to Marie for searching out the story by Victoria Burnett that the New York Times just planted on its website and will appear in tomorrow's print edition. Since dancers from both of New York's and the country's preeminent ballet companies are performing at the festival, one would think that the major New York newspaper, which aspires to be a national newspaper, would send a dance critic to cover the festival performances.

Let's do the tally: CNN, The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Reuters and the Associated Press are all covering this international dance event that has huge cultural and diplomatic importance. So, where is The New York Times? Hey, maybe they're working on a big front page follow-up story about Ellen DeGeneres quitting American Idol from last summer.

The Wall Street Journal found itself invited to a reception for ABT at the estate residence of John Farrar, the chief of mission at the U.S. Interests Section in suburban Havana. Sounds like a party not to have missed.

On Monday night, New York City’s American Ballet Theatre gathered for a reception in this improbable outpost of grand Federalist style in the capital of Communist country. The ballet company’s visit to Cuba – its first in 50 years — is part of the International Ballet Festival of Havana, which this year is celebrating Alicia Alonso, the Cuban ballerina and founder of the National Ballet of Cuba.

With a run of performances, classes and rehearsals ahead, the mojitos at the reception were for sipping, not chugging. Dancers and guests from political and cultural sectors politely mingled on the terrace. And because the party came at the end of ABT’s first full day in Cuba, talk turned easily to first impressions.

And here's a recap of the first evening of performances at the Festival from Escambray. Alicia Alonso attended with Raul Castro:

The Garcia Lorca Hall of the Gran Teatro of Havana vibrated with a packed audience ready to give back, to pay homage to her determination, her courage and the tenacity with which she nurtured a school and a dance company whose hallmark has been recognized worldwide.

Cuban President Raul Castro accompanied her in the royal box from which she symbolically opened the doors to a festival that attracts to Cuba very important companies and dance performances every two years.

November 01, 2010

Haglund's anonymous sources report that ABT's flight to Cuba was the Havana-bound plane that was diverted to Baltimore for an emergency landing yesterday after reports of an odor of smoke in the cabin. Everyone's okay. Thank goodness. Here's the Washington Post report. SURELY this will turn up in Eric Tamm's blog on the ABT website.

Man oh man, like the dancers weren't already excited enough about the trip!

October 31, 2010

NYCB performs at the International Ballet Festival in Havana beginning tomorrow night! ABT - later in the week. However, corpsman Eric Tamm will be blogging, hopefully with pictures, at this link beginning on Monday.

Maybe Cuba has prohibited The New York Times from entering the country to cover the most important dance event of 2010. Who's gonna blame them?